Ever present. Living symbiotically with us; intertwined with the follies of man. Forever cleaning up after what we see fit to waste. Squirrels of the air.
Number of comments: 0 A rainy Saturday drive over Mount Tom into Easthampton brought on a craving for some woodsy trekking at good ol' Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, even if it's a wet trek.
Number of comments: 0 A blossoming interest in local high school football resurfaced again and I checked out the second half of Minnechaug high school's defence against powerhouse Longmeadow on Friday night...
It was drizzling out but warm enough, and the stands were pretty full for this [...]
Number of comments: 1 On the Sturbridge/ Brimfield line there's a wooded spot called the Leadmine Wildlife Management Area. And in part of that area is a short wooded path called the Heins Farm tail, where I happened to find myself strolling Monday afternoon.
It was getting pretty late in the afternoon when we finally managed to set out for a visit to one of the farms participating in the annual, Franklin County-wide, Cider Days event. We tried the Clarkdale Fruit Farm last year during the [...]
With all the attention being lavished on the lavish changing foliage lately, here's a quick honorable mention to that other unsung source of color and magic:
Number of comments: 2 (A little late on this Columbus Day Weekend post, but since we're still in the throes of autumn -eh- still pertinent, I'll hazard...)
Kelly and the baby were up in Maine visiting her BFF that weekend. Not content to just hang around until they got back; the kid and [...]
Number of comments: 5 Having to work for a good chunk of Saturday morning, we were only able to set out later in the afternoon as the cloud cover set back in. The mission was to do what what Kelly pronounced as 'Something Fally'...
We headed north on 202, through Belchertown and detoured [...]
Number of comments: 3 My bud Mario was in town from California this past weekend. Not having been back in the valley during the leaf change in a decade or so, we took him up to the Mount Tom cliff sides so he could re-acclimate himself to some of autumn's fiery scenery.
The football game the other day in Easthamtpon was fun, so I swung by Longmeadow High School Friday night to catch some of that game between their Lancers, and Catholic Memorial...freshly bussed in from a school in Roxbury, out Boston way.
Memo: 'in the valley' owes 'About Amherst' a beer (or beers) of their choosing...Mary Carey put in a good word for me with Jaz Tupelo, radio engineer-extraordinaire, over at WHMP in Northampton.
Number of comments: 6 We received an email alerting us to the coming of the 'Festival of the Hills'. It's a harvest-time fest, way up yonder, in the town of Conway. A perfect destination for a Sunday drive.
Number of comments: 0 This seemingly rainiest year ever continued it's trend on Saturday, dimming but not completely dampening the colors that are just beginning to burst.
Passing the Williston Northampton school, we saw there was a football game going on. Football is one of the few' [...]
Number of comments: 5 Looking for stuff to turn the new macro-reversing-ring on, I threw some loose change in front of the lens. Not many things are so indicative of what a country is all about, or at least how they see themselves, as what people put on their money.
Number of comments: 3 With the season for outdoor spectacle beginning to wane, we've stepped up our efforts to get in on what's out there, before it's all gone. This past weekend included a look at Amherst's 250th birthday parade, (and an additional contribution to severalothereye-witness accounts...)
One of Kelly's friends is involved in the effort to help those with autism, and asked her to participate in the "Walk Now For Autism" fundraiser at Stanley Park in Westfield. I was invited by proxy...camera loaded.
Number of comments: 5 A call-of-the-wild moment presented itself the other day as we were driving home; A fine example of a red-tail hawk was busy doing what they do best, and smack in the middle of a road-side field, just begging for someone to blog it...
We took a trip out to Boston on Saturday, (on a tip from the Cosmos Report), to get a sense of the festivities a-happenin' on the Common, at the 20th annual Freedom Rally to legalize marijuana.
Number of comments: 3 Ever a sucker for military history, I made my third pilgrimage to that great corridor of 18th century conflict, the Lake George/ Fort Ticonderoga region of New York state.
I had to drag Kelly, the kid, bloggerette, and the canine -all four kicking [...]
I missed the beginning of the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies that had started about 5:30 at Symphony Hall in Springfield. But looking for something to do at about 7-ish, I thought a quick swing by downtown might produce a glimpse at the [...]
Part two of our assault on Mt. Tom last week involved a night-time ascent up the southern end to the towers. I met up with Radar Check and Berry, another droog, at about 10 p.m. Friday night in the Log Cabin parking lot. A [...]
My buddy Radar Check gave me a call late on a sparkling afternoon, and asked if I was interested in taking the bikes out for a ride on one of the rail trails. I agreed but with the condition that we stop in [...]
Number of comments: 2 Kelly works on Monday nights, leaving me on my own to venture out with the baby and dog (no mean feat, single handedly) if I want to make any good use of my after-work hours...
Number of comments: 5 Getting to Look Park in Northampton just early enough to scarf up a couple of tickets to the 19th annual Transperformance show before it was too late, it looked like others weren't so lucky...
With much of the local population strongly rooted (ideologically)' [...]
Number of comments: 4 Finding his humans resigned to docile indoor slavery to the rumbling air conditioner, the dog demanded that we snap back to life, and go out for a walk, anywhere...now.
We headed for Mount Holyoke to try to gain some elevation in the hopes [...]
Never having had the good fortune to visit the old Mountain Park back in the day, I had to be there for it's rebirth. They were having a free day-long concert on Saturday to launch the new Mountain Park, and I arrived around sunset [...]
Number of comments: 2 We sat atop Mt. Pollux Thursday evening, the first semi-cloudless night this week, hoping for a glimpse of the Perseid meteor showers that were coming through this week...
I was reading about the Pittsfield Ethnic Fair recently on Valley Kids Stuff 's excellent events calendar. It was going to be a rain or shine event, and since it was both raining and shining that day, we decided to chance it and' [...]
I was just stepping out the door Thursday, to look for something to take pictures of before the sun set, when Kelly mentioned that Governor Deval Patrick was having a town-hall style meeting in Chicopee. Outside, behind the library. In half an hour...
Number of comments: 4 My perennial motorcycle-riding-cohort Tony Costa met me up in Northampton last Saturday, to take advantage of the near perfect weather conditions for a two wheeled road flight over the rolling Berkshires, to the toppermost of Massachusetts....the towering Mount Greylock.
But first, the man was craving some pizza for [...]
Number of comments: 4 Some pics to round out a hot and humid July...
Firstly, I finally made it up to Northampton last Saturday for a morning coffee and paper. It's the first time this year that I was able to make a trip that used to be a (semi-regular) summer routine for [...]
I can see the appeal of the horse. I'm not a fanatic, nor a buff, nor a farmer; have never even ridden on one, but I appreciate the noble animal. The horse has certainly been among mankind's most helpful and loyal animal companions through' [...]
Number of comments: 1 I was able to catch some of the water ski tournament going on at the Oxbow this weekend, getting there just as the individual act competition was wrapping up with this talented young lady, showing her stuff...
Number of comments: 3 We drove down to the shores of Connecticut for our first run to the ocean this year, only to find too many people had the same idea. Craftily flanking two traffic jams on the way down, we arrived at our destination, Rocky Neck State Beach, to find it completely [...]
We were up in the Northampton area on Thursday just as a late day storm was threatening to broil through. We detoured into the meadows for a better look, (mostly) free of the clutter of man...
Number of comments: 4 We finally honored a long-promised return visit to Rattlesnake Gutter up in Leverett. It was beautiful the last time we were up there in the late winter of last year. Back then the melting snow was gushing melt water down the sides of the ravine in several narrow spontaneous [...]
Number of comments: 2 Sometimes it feels like bicycling has ruined me for walking. When Kelly suggested a stroll along the Norwottuck rail trail recently, I kind of grimaced to myself. It's hard to trudge slowly along the same paths we've briskly breezed along so often on the bikes. But, sucking it up (mostly), [...]
We struck north on the fourth, with the plan being to end up at my friend's campsite up in Heath for a visit. We took the back roads up, mostly. Amherst being directly on our route of travel, and more serendipitously, their 3:00 July [...]
Number of comments: 6 Frequent 'in the valley' reader and commenter, and Masslive Nostalgia Forum poster 'Matteny' (or is it Mattenylou?) mentioned to us the existence of an old coke kiln located in Leverett, up near the scenic Rattlesnake Gutter ravine. We headed up that way Friday afternoon to see if we could [...]